Dr Fareed Abdullah is a medical doctor (UKZN) and a specialist in public health medicine (UCT). He is Director: Office of AIDS and TB Research at the South African Medical Research Council and holds a part-time appointment as an HIV clinician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria. He has worked on the frontline during the pandemic and manages a portfolio of COVID-19 clinical research at the hospital. Previously, he was a senior manager in the Western Cape Health Department for 12 years where he led the implementation of antiretroviral treatment in the public sector. He was Africa Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Geneva) from 2008 to 2011 and CEO of the South African National AIDS Council from 2012 to 2017. He co-chairs the SA National TB Think Tank.